The advent of the cloud and virtualization of computing environments has led to new ways of storing data. Computer algorithms store data virtually across many different machines and Storage Media. For example, a single file containing a single data instance is stored using a virtual identifier. The virtual identifier is an identifier—like a serial number—that is unique across multiple machines.
The data could be sensitive confidential information like all of the HR files for an organization or user data for a large gaming company. The data is spread across multiple physical devices in one or more data centers using the virtual identifier. Without the virtual identifier, the data owner cannot access the data.
Currently, users delete cloud or virtual data by merely deleting the virtual identifier. Deletion of the virtual identifier disconnects the users of the cloud or virtual environment from the data stored at the physical locations (e.g., on hard drives). A problem arises, however, in that the data itself still exists at those physical locations. Someone with access to those physical locations (either physically or through a network) may be able to access the data. Thus, the data owner has no reassurance that the data has been securely deleted.